Scars of the Past
by Gemini14
Summary: Somewhat AU. When another ancient race appears from the shadows to aid in the fight against Jenova, will even their strength be enough to make a difference? FF7 RK Crossover
1. Prologue

Scars of the Past

Prologue

It had been ten years, and still the memory haunted him. The feelings of dread and guilt plagued him day-in and day-out, making his wanderings seem as aimless as his outlook for the future seemed to him.

"_Why did I ever join SOLDIER in the first place? How could I have been so naive?_" the wanderer wondered, as he bought a newspaper and a cheap breakfast, sat down, and began to read.

"Have you always taken such long vacations? Or should I take it that you have taken your leave of Shinra completely?" a male voice asked, startling the man into looking up.

"Well...I never expected to see you here...Have you come to kill me, Sephiroth?" the man asked, calmly; knowing that there was no other way to escape Shinra's top general unless he fought back and won.

"Certainly not! You were one of the few ranking officers I looked up to, ten long years ago; I wouldn't dream of killing you in cold blood!" Sephiroth replied, then added, "Actually, my finding you here, in Nibelheim was a bit of a surprise...In truth, I came here to find out a bit more about myself."

"But what could be here that could tell you any more than you already know?" the wanderer questioned. Sephiroth shrugged.

"No idea. But I think something lies here that may hold some clues." Sephiroth stated, as the wanderer sighed, then gave him a reassuring smile.

"Then I wish you the best of luck, my friend. Let me know if you find anything, okay?" the wanderer said, as he stood to leave; folding his newspaper and putting his cleared plate aside as he did so.

"I will do so. Take care." Sephiroth replied, as he started to walk off.

"Same to you." the wanderer answered, as he turned and disappeared into the crowd; not realizing that chaos was about to come.

The wanderer didn't know what had awakened him. It was very early in the morning two weeks after his meeting with Sephiroth; too early for even a former SOLDIER to be up and about.

"_What in the world is going on? What is this wrongness I am sensing? Where is it coming from?_" the wanderer wondered, as he got out of bed and made his way outside. Not surprisingly, everything appeared normal at first...and then a sound he recognized came to his ears. A sound he'd hoped he would never hear again...the sound of someone gasping for air. With a swift motion, he unsheathed his sword and faced the direction the sound was coming from; only to feel the blood rush from his face when he beheld who was limping towards him.

"Oh planet..." the wanderer muttered, then rushed to the wounded man before he fell forward. Even in the fading moonlight, the wanderer could see the man's blood-spattered silver hair clearly, the look of agony on his face, and gash in his stomach from a stab wound.

"Sephiroth...what the blazes just happened to you!" the wanderer questioned, shocked that something like this could have happened to Shinra's greatest general.

"D-don't worry about m-me...You must...stop him...He's going to release...the calamity..." Sephiroth gasped, as blood leaked from the corners of his mouth; hinting at the severity of his wound.

"Who is 'he', Sephiroth? Who is going to release a calamity?" the wanderer asked, his innards freezing when the younger man coughed out the name of the disaster-bringer.

"Yukishiro..." Sephiroth managed, his green eyes shimmering with pain.

"_Yukishiro Enishi_..._I should have known. He's the only one I know of that could have done this to someone as strong as Sephiroth._" the wanderer mused, darkly, as he carefully hoisted the dying man onto his back, then started running.

"W-what are you doing?" Sephiroth whispered, his voice weak; barely audible even to the wanderer's sensitive ears.

"My master lives in this area...He should be able to see to your wounds while I go back and see if I can stop Enishi." the wanderer responded, as he raced past darkened buildings and streets; heading for the empty land and an ancient forest beyond the town itself.

"Yukishiro...can't be stopped...he's enlisted the aid...of the calamity...And he'll destroy the world...with her power." Sephiroth struggled to say, his breaths sounding rough and uneven to his own ears, and worrying to his companion's.

"_Hang on, my friend. We're almost there._" the wanderer thought, knowing that the younger warrior was in dire need of medical attention; he could feel Sephiroth's blood soaking the material of his shirt. Within moments, he found himself in a secluded glen. In the center of the glen, a simple hut and a potter's kiln stood...and sitting in front of the kiln, a man in a white mantle waited.

"So, you have returned." the mantled man murmured, as he turned an ebon gaze onto the wanderer; his eyes widening ever so slightly when he saw that his apprentice wasn't alone.

"Yes...I am guessing you sensed what has just happened?" the wanderer asked, as he carefully lowered the semi-conscious Sephiroth to his knees to give him the chance to catch his breath. The mantled man nodded, and grimly looked in the direction of Nibelheim.

"The Cetra aren't the only ones who can hear the planet cry out...and what we heard just now was more or less a scream of terror. The Calamity is awakening." the dark-eyed warrior stated, ignoring the look of hazy confusion he was getting from Sephiroth in response to what he'd said.

"Sephiroth had told me that much...What are we going to do now?" the wanderer asked, edgily, as the elder warrior approached and started assessing Sephiroth's wounds.

"Bind your companion's wounds, then get out of here. If anything, Nibelheim will be only a memory by the time the day is out...And I can only hope we don't end up joining it as such." the mantled man said, his grim expression speaking louder than even his own words.

"You mean even you won't be fast enough to save anyone in the town?" the wanderer asked, aghast at the thought that the disaster and its' death toll was inevitable. The warrior gravely nodded.

"Even I am not powerful enough to stand against the Calamity...even though I hold the mastery of my sword-craft, there is nothing I can do alone against it. We can only hope that the townsfolk will notice the disturbances in time to evacuate." the warrior replied, with a defeated and decidedly angry tone in his voice.

"_He's as disturbed as I am about leaving Nibelheim to its' fate_..._But as he'd said, we have no chance of fighting the Calamity and winning. I can only hope that we'll find the strength to prevail against it at a later date._" the wanderer mused, as he watched his master retrieve the medical supplies he kept on hand and begin treating the sword wound in Sephiroth's abdomen. When he'd finished, he hurriedly left the younger man's side and saddled some chocobos that stood waiting beside his hut; his anxious expression telling the wanderer that he was more afraid than he cared to admit.

"Kenshin." the mantled man's voice snapped, bringing the wanderer out of his thoughts with a jolt.

"Yes, Shishou?" the wanderer replied, calling his master by the formal title out of long-forgotten habit.

"Get a move on. Time is not with us." the elder warrior said, a little mollified that his apprentice had called him by title this time.

"Agreed. Sephiroth, do you think you can ride?" Kenshin asked, as he helped the silver-haired swordsman to his feet, and steadied him when the pain threatened to topple him. Sephiroth only nodded; pushing aside the agony with a determination even the mantled swordmaster could appreciate.

"Then let's go." the warrior ordered, giving his mount a firm kick in it's side to get it moving. Without further comment, both Kenshin and Sephiroth quickly followed; leaving behind what would become the planet's greatest tragedy...and travesty.

_Author's Note!_

_I know things seem a bit bizarre, but please bear with me! This is my first stab at a Final Fantasy fanfiction (so please, be kind in the reviews). Also, my knowledge of what happens in the game is fairly sketchy, so any help in the timeline and even the rest of the characters will be most welcome! Arigato!_

Gemini14


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

Five years had come and gone, since the destruction of Nibelheim. They had traveled quite a distance from the destroyed city over the years, and had just recently found themselves on the outskirts of Kalm. Sephiroth sighed as he watched Kenshin and his master spar; honing their own skills and also trying to alleviate the boredom that seemed to fill any lulls in the action. He flinched when Kenshin took a blow to the head, and snickered when he fell back with a loud and comical 'Oro!' in response to it.

"Baka deshi." the swordmaster, who went by the name of Seijuro Hiko the Thirteenth, grumbled; yet was unable to hide all of his mirth behind his mask of calm.

"He'll be feeling that one later, that much is certain." Sephiroth stated, smirking when he glanced at Kenshin and saw that he was going to be 'out' for a while.

"Feh. If that's the best he can do, then the world as we know it is doomed." Hiko muttered, half joking and half serious when he said that.

"I don't think any of us are any match for the Calamity, no matter how strong we become individually...Yukishiro was too much for me to handle, and I was one of the best swordsmen in SOLDIER at the time." Sephiroth murmured, then added, "Even though my own skills are crude compared to yours' and Kenshin's."

"Don't sell yourself too short. At least you managed to get out of the city alive; there were many others who weren't so fortunate." Hiko murmured, his eyes haunted by the memory of what they had all sensed that night.

"Such a horrible way to die...None of those people had deserved such a fate...And the fault is all mine...If I hadn't told Enishi of what I had found in the Shinra mansion, then maybe...Just maybe...it wouldn't have happened." Sephiroth murmured, as guilt raked its claws through his soul once again. Hiko sighed in exasperation. He knew that there was really nothing he could say or do that would make the burden any easier to bear; and yet, it was his own guilt that kept him from saying anything.

"_And it is only going to get worse._" Hiko mused, looking up when something crossed his senses.

"Sounds as though we're going to have some company in a little bit." Sephiroth murmured, when he'd also noticed what Hiko had sensed.

"Seems that way..." the elder swordsman muttered, as he stood and looked in the direction the people were coming from. Within moments, three people walked into view; they appeared a bit bedraggled, yet none the worse for wear.

"What brings a former SOLDIER and two young ladies so far away from Midgar?" Hiko asked, as he made himself known to the trio. At first, the young man and the dark-haired girl beside him jumped, and then readied themselves for a fight; eyes blazing as they did so. But it was the second girl that breached the tension in the air with a calm smile.

"We're going to Kalm. Is this the right way?" the girl asked.

"It's just ahead. You don't have too much further to go..." Sephiroth said, trailing off when his eyes met those of the girl before him, and smiling slightly when recognition came to her features, and those of her companions.

"Sephiroth! What're you doing here?.! Are you here to kill this town too?" the young man asked, angrily; not seeing when the former general flinched at the indirect mention of Nibelheim.

"He didn't destroy Nibelheim...I should know, since I'd had to carry him away from the town." Kenshin's voice stated, as the redhead joined in on the conversation; shaking off the lingering effects of his master's blow as he stood alongside the silver-haired warrior.

"Is that what he told you?" the dark-haired girl growled. Kenshin shook his head.

"I didn't really have the chance to tell them anything...I was very badly injured at the time...All I could say was that Yukishiro was about to release the Calamity." Sephiroth murmured.

"Yukishiro...? Who is that? I've never heard of him." the dark-haired girl muttered, not believing Sephiroth for even an instant.

"I have...and all I can say is that he's bad news. I think it was even said that he was insane to begin with." the blond-haired man said, as Sephiroth nodded in agreement.

"Yukishiro had been one of the best commanding officers Shinra had had in its' employ before Sephiroth...And yet, as the young man had already mentioned, he was, even then, mentally unstable." Kenshin murmured, quietly, as he remembered very clearly what the man in question had been like.

"So...what are you doing now, Sephiroth?" the green-eyed girl asked, almost shyly.

"I have been traveling with these two for the past five years. I'm uncertain as to what plans they have, but I can say that I don't think I can keep running from what has happened. Seeing you here, Aerith, has proved that my past is indeed catching up." Sephiroth said, surprising the young man and the other girl with his knowledge of their companion's name.

"Shishou?" Kenshin asked, as the tall swordmaster gave the trio a speculative look.

"What names do the two of you go by?" Hiko questioned as he gazed at the younger man and the dark-haired girl.

"I'm Cloud Strife, and this is Tifa Lockheart. You already know Aerith's name." the young man replied, getting a nod from Hiko in response.

"We're going to Kalm to meet some friends of ours. Do you want to come with us?" Aerith asked, earnestly. Kenshin, Sephiroth, and Hiko exchanged glances for a brief moment; why were they being asked this?

"We might need your help later on...especially with the threat of a possible crisis coming." Cloud murmured, getting the attention of the two elder swordsmen with those words.

"A crisis? You mean the Calamity, don't you?" Hiko asked, and continued, when he'd noticed the tension returning to their young faces, and the color leaving them, "Jenova."

"You know the name of Jenova...Then I guess our paths were fated to cross..." Cloud muttered, after a few moments; bright, mako-green eyes showing his own disbelief at this turn of events.

"I know more than you realize about Jenova, but this isn't the time or the place to discuss it. Where in Kalm are your companions meeting?" Hiko asked, taking command of the situation, now that he knew where the trio stood.

"The inn." Tifa said, speaking up for the first time since she'd been introduced.

"Then let's go. The longer we linger here, the more the threat from Yukishiro and the Calamity grows. We need to hurry." Sephiroth stated, as he stepped out onto the path. This got a nod from Cloud as an agreement, and a quiet 'Yes' from Aerith. The only one who didn't agree with this was Tifa; she only glared at the former Shinra general with a look of distrust and hatred in her wine-colored eyes.

"_It is going to be very difficult to prove my innocence to that young lady, that much is certain. Yukishiro Enishi has already made things difficult, and he hasn't even reappeared before me yet._" Sephiroth mused, as he walked along at the very back of the group; avoiding Tifa as much as he could, for the time being.

Vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv(divider)

They arrived at the inn in Kalm at around mid-morning. Already, Kenshin could tell that, even though they were about a floor below the 'others' Cloud had mentioned, a deep feeling of anger and hatred towards Shinra could be very easily felt.

"I wonder how Barret is going to react when he sees who else we have with us?" Aerith murmured, as she briefly glanced at the three men behind her with honest concern in her emerald eyes.

"Dunno...I just hope he doesn't start shooting." Cloud said, with a sigh. Tifa and Aerith seemed to agree.

"I am in agreement, and I haven't even met him yet." Sephiroth muttered; keeping his voice as quiet as he could, until they were well within the room where the man in question waited. It had taken quite a bit of ingenuity to get Sephiroth into Kalm unnoticed; Kenshin and Cloud knew only too well how famous the former general had been when he'd been with Shinra, and that he could now be on a 'kill list' from the same company he'd served for so long.

"_I can only hope that Shishou isn't too upset with us for having used his mantle like this._" Kenshin thought, as he glanced at the younger man, and the white cloak that was draped over his head and shoulders. He could almost feel Hiko's skeptical glance on his back in response to those thoughts, and then they entered the room in question.

"Took ya long enough! You're late!" a male voice snapped, irritably, as the owner of the voice glared at Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith for their tardiness, and then stared in disbelief at the three newcomers as they all had a seat. The young ex-SOLDIER gave the other man an abashed look.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Barret." Cloud apologized, watching as Kenshin handed Hiko his mantle, and as Sephiroth tried not to look uneasy about being there.

"So, let's hear your story, Cloud. You know, the one about Sephiroth and the crisis facing the planet." Barret demanded, not even sparing Sephiroth a glance when the former general flinched at the mention of his name and the vague reference to Jenova in that single sentence. Cloud, however, noticed the general's reaction, and then cleared his throat.

"Before I begin, I must say something else, first...Things aren't as clear cut as I had thought they had been. In the memories that I have of a terrible day that'd happened five years ago, my eyes were fooled into thinking that the man known as Sephiroth, who is sitting here in this room with us, had betrayed and murdered so many...And now I have been told that that hadn't been the case." Cloud stated, as he gave Kenshin and Hiko a questioning look, and receiving a nod that told him to start telling his tale. As the story was told, Sephiroth found himself remembering the events that had led up to the destruction of Nibelheim; arriving there, meeting Kenshin in the square after ten long years, investigating the damaged mako reactor (after several near-misses with monsters and faulty bridges), the monsters he and Cloud had found within the reactor itself...those memories actually made a shudder travel down his spine...But the worst had yet to be told.

"Am I human? I honestly hadn't known what Sephiroth had meant, back then...and I was even more surprised that Shinra had created those monstrosities we'd seen, in the first place." Cloud murmured, looking at the former general when he finally spoke in their presence.

"One is considered human when you are actually conscious of what you're doing...I may have done some terrible things in my time, but I was at least conscious of my actions. Yukishiro Enishi, on the other hand..." Sephiroth said, then slowly peeled back his coat's lapel and the armor plating, and showed them part of the extensive scar Enishi had given him that long-ago night. Cloud and Aerith stared in horror at the deep scar, and even Tifa appeared to have a hint of a sympathetic look in her eyes as the silver-haired man put the plating back into place and explained himself even further.

"I had foolishly told him of the library in the Shinra mansion, and of the information the books within it had contained...I hadn't known that he would actually listen to me, or read what he'd found there...The blood of the people of Nibelheim is on my hands just as surely as it had been on his." Sephiroth stated, gravely; true guilt showing itself freely in his own mako-green eyes.

"But it was you I saw in that reactor that night...and it was you who had killed my father and hometown." Tifa growled; barely holding her fury in check as Kenshin spoke in Sephiroth's defense.

"It could well be, Tifa-dono, that Enishi had stolen Sephiroth's appearance to convince you of that." Kenshin murmured, speaking up for the younger man beside him.

"That may or may not be the case. We won't truly know what had happened that night until we actually find this Yukishiro Enishi that they had mentioned." a red-furred, almost feline creature said, smoothly; agreeing with Kenshin on that point.

"True enough." Hiko muttered, as he stood and stretched; yet gave Barret an unreadable look when he announced that he was leaving.

"But you two...what part do you have to play in all of this?" Cloud asked, as he gave Kenshin and Hiko a confused glance.

"We had that much more to fear, from Shinra, since we are also members of a dying race." Hiko stated, his words freezing Barret in place, and causing the feline and Aerith to stare at them in wonder.

"Are you...Cetra?" Aerith asked, with hope in her emerald eyes. Kenshin sighed and sadly shook his head.

"Even though we can hear the voice of the planet, as the Cetra could, we aren't Cetra, Aerith-dono...We're dragons." Kenshin stated, as those in the room gave both him and Hiko looks of shock.

"Dragons...? You mean...like the ones I had fought, in SOLDIER?" Sephiroth asked, his mouth drying at the thought that he had possibly killed some of the swordsmen's kin.

"No. Not quite. Back in the day, when the Cetra flourished, a tribe of warriors lived alongside them. They were the guardians of the planet, and its' people...That is, until Jenova arrived. Now, there are very few true dragons left, thanks in part to Shinra...They experimented on anything that could speak like a human..." Hiko said, quietly, as an intangible pain appeared in his dark eyes. This got a growl of agreement from the red creature, and a murmured agreement from Aerith for that; they both knew only too well what Hiko had meant.

"And they have even experimented on humans, as well...by injecting them with Jenova cells, and making them into either monsters or 'super soldiers'." Sephiroth muttered, as true disgust for Shinra appeared in his own mako-colored eyes.

"And yet, be that as it may, I still don't know how I survived that night. I challenged Yukishiro Enishi and lived...Why didn't he kill me?" Cloud murmured, as he leaned back in his seat, and stared at the ceiling.

"I survived as well." Tifa added, her voice soft and thoughtful.

"I also narrowly escaped. It doesn't make sense." Sephiroth stated, wincing slightly when he leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees; a confused scowl taking up residence on his face after he had done so.

"It seems a lot of this doesn't make sense. What about Jenova? It was in the Shinra building, wasn't it?" Aerith asked.

"Shinra shipped it from Nibelheim to Midgar." Cloud said, glancing at Hiko when he growled something under his breath about 'some fools not knowing when to leave well enough alone', and then returning his attention to the conversation when Aerith spoke again.

"But it was missing from the Shinra building there...Did someone else carry it away after that?" Aerith questioned, remembering what they had found (or, to be more exact, not found) in the city they'd been forced to leave behind not long before. Tifa only turned her gaze to Sephiroth; accusation coming to the fore in her wine-red gaze. Sephiroth's expression, in turn, deadpanned.

"Miss Lockheart, I am not the one at fault here...Besides, what would I do with an alien being? And a dead one, at that?" Sephiroth asked, dryly.

"Tote it around and call it 'Mother'." Tifa grumbled; making Hiko and Kenshin glad that they had not been drinking anything at that point in time (if they had, they would have ended up spitting it out, in response to that jab). Aerith clasped both hands over her mouth, to keep her laughter from being heard by the rest of the group, while the red creature only chuckled and shook his head. Sephiroth, in the meantime, only gave the girl a blank look, before asking her one question, "Where in the name of the planet did you come up with that ridiculous idea?.!"

"It just seemed like something you would do..." Tifa muttered, as she directed her scowl at the floorboards.

"Oro..." Kenshin murmured, when the tension had reached an almost unbearable point.

"For once, Kenshin, I couldn't agree more." Hiko stated; silently wishing he could go and get some sake from somewhere, and put the conversation to the back of his mind for awhile.

"Damn! Don't none of this make sense! I'm going, going, going, gone! And I'm leavin' the thinkin' to you!" Barret irritably shouted, as he stomped towards the door, then added, "Yo, Cloud! Get a move on!"

"Right." Cloud responded, as he quickly stood to follow the loud and obnoxious man back downstairs.

"The rest of ya, c'mon! Let's go!" Barret ordered, after he'd started on his way down.

"Oh, brother." Cloud muttered, after the other man was out of earshot.

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Sephiroth mumbled, agreeing wholeheartedly with the exasperation that Cloud was feeling. As the rest of them filed out of the room, it left only Hiko and the red feline sitting there.

"In order to succeed, this group is going to need a better leader than that one." Hiko sighed, more than just a little irritated with the larger man's impatient demeanor.

"I couldn't agree more, my friend. Yet, it was a fascinating story that Cloud has just told..." the red beast murmured.

"Indeed. And yet, I can only wonder where it will lead us...Will our strength truly be enough?" Hiko mused, aloud; voicing his own doubts about the fight ahead.

"The only way we can find out is to try. We're both members of a dying race...but we can keep fighting for the memory of those who had gone on before us." the beast said, calmly.

"True enough. Let's go, before that loud-voiced one shakes the buildings down by sheer volume alone." Hiko said, as he left the room. The red beast nodded, and silently followed. A long and difficult road lay ahead of them...and they only hoped that they would be able to come through the hardships alive.

**_Author's Note!_**

_**Yeah, it's probably not the best chapter, on record, but I'm doing the best I can. The script I'd found probably isn't the best, but it's at least offering some sort of guideline. If anybody knows where to find a better one, please tell me! Aside from that, be kind in the reviews, please!**_

_**Gemini14**_


End file.
